Texas Federal Court Imposes Preclearance on City of Pasadena

By EditorJan 08, 2017

Pasadena, Texas - The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in this ruling invalidated the city's move from an eight-member district redistricting map to a mixed map of six single member districts and two at-large seats for electing its city council. The court's finding of minority vote dilution (of Hispanic voters) under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act includes an order to subject the city to preclearance requirements, which would mean election officials must clear any future redistricting changes to the Justice Department for approval. Read the initial case filing by plaintiffs here. There were several…

Local Redistricting, NEWS, Race in Redistricting, Redistricting, Redistricting Race Rules, Voting Rights Actcity of pasadena, Latino, legal, local, lpvra, patino

Meet The Democrat’s Secret Redistricting Weapon in 2020

By EditorJan 05, 2017

Watch MSNBC interview Kelly Ward, former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee about her new role as the Democrat party's answer to the wildly successful national Republican redistricting strategy. Ward is interim executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, - a project of President Obama and former Attorney General, Eric Holder - which will be gearing up for the next redistricting battle in 2020. Her interview begins around the 4:00 min mark.

Redistricting, Strategy and Politics

Cumulative Voting for School Board Ordered By Federal Court in Missouri

By EditorDec 07, 2016

Missouri - Late last month a federal district court ended a two year challenge to the Ferguson-Florissant School District's use of at-large elections for its seven member school board. The court ruled in August, that at-large elections for board members did violate section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The court's order requires the school district to use a cumulative voting system with staggered terms and off-cycle elections, preceded by a voter education program, much like the one described in the cumulative voting educational video below. https://youtu.be/L-n_D16bchM

Redistricting, Redistricting Race Rulesat-large voting, cumulative voting, Ferguson, florissant, lpvra, Missouri, school district

NPR and Scotusblog Recap Oral Arguments in Racial Gerrymandering Case

By EditorDec 06, 2016

Wash. DC - NPR's Nina Totenberg recaps Supreme Court oral arguments in , Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Board of Elections and McCrory v. Harris; the racial gerrymandering claims arising from the Virginia state legislative and the North Carolina congressional map, which were heard on Monday. Click below for audio. Read Scotusblog's analysis here.

NEWS, Race in Redistricting, Racial Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Race Rulesfeatured, gerrymandering, lawindepth, lpscotus, North Carolina, NPR, racial gerrymandering, Supreme Court, washington dc

Duke University Team Dabbles with Its Own Algorithm for Measuring Partisan Gerrymandering

By EditorDec 06, 2016

North Carolina - It isn't Efficiency Gap Analysis, but a team of mathematicians at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy have applied its own model (Markov Chain Monte Carlo method) to measuring the extent of partisan gerrymanders. The algorithm produces maps with districts that have proven to be comparably more competitive than the actual districts established by states. This does not appear to be anything new however, since computer modeled redistricting has been around for quite sometime. The groups methodology explanation does not indicate how its model is superior to other algorithms. Read the article in GovTech.com. The group…

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymandersfeatured, North Carolina, partisan gerrymandering, redistricting, research

NPR Talks with Law Profs About Racial Gerrymandering in the Supreme Court

By EditorDec 06, 2016

Wash. DC - NPR's Nina Totenberg discusses the North Carolina racial gerrymandering claim to be heard today before the U.S. Supreme Court. Totenberg chats with Stanford law professor Nathaniel Persily and Richard Hasen of University of California Irvine about the two congressional districts in dispute and how the court has dealt with similar claims in the past. Click below.

Racial Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymandersfeatured, gerrymandering, lawindepth, North Carolina, Persily, racial gerrymandering, Supreme Court, washington dc

Packing Minorities Into Districts. When Is That Ever Okay?

By EditorDec 05, 2016

Washington DC - The Supreme Court will tackle that question today as it hears oral arguments in two redistricting cases. Both cases are alleged racial gerrymander claims; one orginating from Virginia's state legislative map and the other from North Carolina's congressional district map. (more…)

Race in Redistricting, Racial Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race Rules, Voting Rights Actgerrymandering, lawindepth, legal, lpvra, North Carolina, racial gerrymandering, scotus, Supreme Court, Virginia, Voting Rights Act, washington dc

Discussion on Wisconsin Partisan Gerrymandering Decision on Bloomberg

By EditorNov 29, 2016

Listen to Stanford Law Professor Nathan Persily and Ruth Greenwood, deputy director of Redistricting at the Campaign Legal Center, discuss a Wisconsin federal panel's approval of a long-sought after measure for partisan gerrymandering. Press to Listen

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymandersefficiency gap, partisan gerrymandering, Persily, Wisconsin

Efficiency Gap Analysis Gets This Early Critique from Princeton Professor

By EditorNov 28, 2016

Princeton biophysics professor San Wang has an early critique of Efficiency Gap analysis (EG) - a method for measuring partisan gerrymandering that received unexpected support from a federal district court panel in Western Wisconsin this past week. (more…)

Equal Protection, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymandersefficiency gap, legal, partisan gerrymandering, Wisconsin

Federal District Court Finds Partisan Gerrymander in Wisconsin Assembly Map

By EditorNov 21, 2016

Wisconsin - A three-judge federal district court in Wisconsin has invalidated the Republican-drawn state assembly district map enacted in August 2011 as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. If the ruling stands - and that's a very big "IF," this case will be the first successful approach to creating a workable standard for courts to use in determining whether a partisan gerrymander rises to the level of impermissible gerrymandering under the first amendment and equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Read more in the New York Times , Salon.com, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Rick Hasen's Electionlawblog. Read the District Court…

First Amendment, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanderslpequalpro, national, partisan gerrymandering, Wisconsin